Mari, Chat and the Prank of Pranks
by PerditaAlottachocolate
Summary: Marinette and Chat set a date - they were going to share some serious secrets! But then a stunt of Marinette's (one of a long line of pranks exchanged in the ongoing MariChat Prank Challenge) rubs Chat the wrong way and he decides to pull the Prank of Pranks on his unsuspecting girlfriend in the midst of his reveal. One-shot, MariChat May, Day 19 Identity reveal [EDIT:2morechaps!]
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: I admire authors who write drabbles/one-shots for every day of MariChat May. Unfortunately I neighter have such a productive imagination nor time to do that._

 _So this May it's just one one-shot from me. Still, I hope you'll like my little contribution!_

* * *

 **Mari, Chat and the Prank of Pranks**

Neither of them remembered how it had actually started and after that crazy year it wasn't really that important. It turned out Marinette had quite a competitive streak in her, one that rivaled only Chat's own. Thus the ongoing prank contest that had begun somewhere around June last year.

When it was Chat's turn, he would sneak up on her at night and draw a mustache and a beard on her face with a waterproof mascara.

Marinette in turn would photoshop Chat's pictures giving him a squint, altering his hairdo (he always knew he would look great in pigtails or with purple hair) or changing the color of his eyes (he actually liked the pink ones).

To avenge that disgrace Chat would then release spiders in her room and wait on the balcony to savor all the squeals.

Mari would return the favor by gluing a sheet of paper to his back when he was leaving her place – and on the sheet she would write things like 'Leonardo DiCATrio' or 'Paw-lease, kick me'. Sometimes he didn't even realize she'd done it, until his pictures would appear on Ladyblog (because of course she hinted Alya every time).

If the pun was purrrticularly pawsome Chat felt generous enough to make the next prank a pleasant surprise. Like that time when he had filled Marinette's locker with thirty plush Chat Noirs. On the next occasion instead of plushies he used sweets, burying his unsuspecting girlfriend up to her neck in her favorite Ladybug jellies. He enjoyed pulling stunts like that in public the most – unbeknownst to Marinette he was able to watch her reaction from up close because she didn't have a clue as to Chat Noir's identity.

Some would say this was a strange custom, but it worked for Chat and Marinette. Somehow it was 'their thing', since there was a 'they' anyway. Oftentimes they would lie side by side on Mari's chaise arguing whose joke was better, chuckling and giggling and cuddling. And neither of them minded or felt offended. On the contrary they both could appreciate a particularly funny or inventive trick.

The 19th of May was supposed to be special. Last time Marinette told him she needed to confess something important, but asked for a few days to prepare herself mentally. It had to be big, because his girlfriend usually wasn't that nervous or agitated. Chat declared he would reciprocate with a secret of his own, _the_ secret in fact. To his surprise Marinette agreed. There would be no more secrets between them, she would finally know who he was under the mask. They had set the date, kissed their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

Yet with every passing day Adrien felt less and less comfortable about the whole ordeal. Would she be disappointed? Would she hate the fact that he was hiding in plain sight all those months? Would she feel betrayed that he knew her as his civilian self and never said a word? And after all those pranks at school he somehow grew even more certain that Marinette will hunt him down as soon as she knows who and how pulled off those stunts.

But then an "anonymous someone" leaked to the Ladyblog a very private and compromising photo of Chat Noir blissfully passed out in front of catnip pot and Adrien decided that if he was going down, he would make a hell of a last stand. And that he would make that "anonymous someone" pay by pulling off the prank of pranks on them.

The boy prepared meticulously. He acquired everything he needed, and what he couldn't borrow he ordered on the internet to cover his tracks. On the 18th of May he finally managed to complete his attire. He put it on, transformed and de-transformed in front of a mirror to see how it would look like. He made some adjustments. The trick was purely devilish, so unsurprisingly Plagg was 100% on board instead of scolding Adrien for misuse of his miraculous.

Finally came May 19th. Chat Noir stood in Marinette's room and watched her fidgeting and casting nervous glances at her purse. Apparently she was giving herself a pep talk, as his ears picked up various versions of 'you can do it' between her anxious sighs.

Outside Chat was a model case of composure, inside he was grinning sinfully. 'Are you okay, Princess?' he asked gently.

'Y-yeah, fine,' she mumbled. 'It's just harder than I imagined.'

That would be his cue. 'Would you like me to go first?' he ventured and almost backtracked seeing the relief on her face as she nodded wordlessly. Almost, because then the shameful photo popped into his mind pushing him of the edge.

'Ready?' he asked zeroing his gaze on Marinette. She paled and nodded once again.

'Plagg, claws in,' he called never taking his eyes of her as green light engulfed his body, replacing the black suit with an attire Marinette should recognize on the spot. And she did.

The green light went up from his feet – first revealing white shoes with black soles, then a white jean capris and a belt with a diamond-shaped bumps, going up to a white and black striped shirt and yellow blazer, a flower shaped necklace, and finally showing long blond hair tied into a high pony-tail, and white rimmed sunglasses on top of his head.

When the light disappeared Marinette swooned. She fell backwards, landing on her butt as her legs gave up, her eyes widened in horror.

'Chloe?' she whispered weakly.

Adrien touched his wig in a way he saw Chloe doing countless of times, when she checked her hairdo. He ran his hands over the striped shirt and the blazer to smooth them out. He cocked his hip out in an offensive way Chloe always did, when she wanted to intimidate someone. He pursed his lips into so familiar snooty pout and fluttered his lashes to demonstrate the fierce blue shadows on his eyelids.

He risked a glance at the flabbergasted Marinette still splayed on the floor, gaping at him with her mouth slightly opened.

Okay, on second thought maybe he overdid just a little bit. Or more than a little in fact.

'Marinette? Say something, please…' he whispered offering her a hand.

And then Marinette screamed. It started as a quiet squeal, but somehow grew into a full force shriek that must have scared all the bats in the neighborhood. It took a while before the ringing in his ears ceased.

'Um, better?' Adrien asked releasing a nervous chuckle.

He didn't get any response. Instead Marinette stood up, reached out and pulled the abominable wig from his head and smeared the eye-shadow from his face. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand to stop another squeal.

'Surprise?!' Adrien ventured channeling what little Chat he had left into his voice.

Marinette's eyes narrowed, her lips pursed into a thin line. And Adrien knew in an instant that he was a dead man walking. But he couldn't go back so he soldiered on.

'Soooooo, that was fun?' He suggested and was rewarded with a deeper frown.

'Yup.' He answered himself with a loud pop, as his girlfriend still didn't utter a single word.

'Um, wanna tell me your secret now?' he asked nonchalantly swinging his arms back and forth and rocking on his feet.

Marinette cocked a skeptical brow and never breaking eye contact she whispered. 'Tikki, spots on.'

He barely registered the flash of red light and Plagg's yowls beside him before the revelation hit him. Oh boy, he was soooo screwed.

* * *

 _AN: Hum hum. What do you say? I'd appreciate your comments :)_

 _EDIT: The story somehow sprouted two bonus chapters!_


	2. Chapter 2

_This is what happens, when my brain gets hyperactive. Unexpectedly the story sprouted two more chapters! Take a look if you want to follow the aftermath of the prank of pranks._

 _Also: a HUGE thank you for your favs, follows and comments. I am overwhelmed!_

* * *

 **Chapter 2 "** **A Model Example To Our Youth** **"**

If Adrien thought he was screwed the moment his charming girlfriend of 12 months transformed into his former crush and Chat's partner, he thought wrong. For that was just the beginning of his trouble.

Of course when the boy saw his Lady's murderous expression (hitherto he saw it only directed at particularly difficult Akumas) he bolted, his legs simply by-passing the brain and taking the command. Adrien didn't even bother with transforming. He just grabbed Plagg, shoved him into his pocket, picked up the blonde wig and slammed it onto his head not missing a beat.

And then he just fled still screaming incoherently at the top of his lungs. It wasn't a wise choice, as it turned out the next day.

* * *

Adrien woke up in darkness, drowsy and aching all over. Apparently he slept in the same position he hit the bed when he finally made it to the mansion.

'Plagg, what time is it?' the boy rasped, suppressing a yawn.

'Morning I guess.' The kwami mumbled in response.

'Morning!?' He must have closed the curtains after arriving at his room last night in a vain attempt to shut out the whole world.

'What am I, a clock?!' Plagg grumbled. 'Why don't you check your phone,' he suggested acidly. 'It's been buzzing like mad for the last two hours.'

'What?!' Adrien grabbed his phone. The green light was blinking fiercely in the darkness, informing him of unread messages or missed calls.

 _Uh oh. Not good._

But before the boy could see what the buzzing was all about there was an impatient knock at the door.

'Adrien, are you up?' That was Nathalie. And her voice was _authentically concerned_ , which did nothing to calm Adrien's nerves. Then she dropped the bomb. 'Your father requested your presence _immediately_.'

' 'm up! Just give me a sec!' The boy jumped out of his bed and leaped into the bathroom before Nathalie entered the room. He had fallen asleep in his prank outfit, exhausted after the frantic run from Marinette's house.

Adrien quickly shed the offensive clothes and hid them at the back of his closet. Then he cleaned the remains of his makeup, put on the first clean shirt and pants he could find and raced out of the bathroom finally unlocking his phone and browsing through the messages.

It seemed like half of the world had been trying to contact him.

…

 _Red alert. All hands to battle stations._

…

There were a few missed calls and unread texts from Marinette. Oh god, from Ladybug! He desperately needed to think about that, but at the moment some yet unidentified midden had hit the windmill, so he just scrolled past them to see the other messages.

Surprisingly there was a missed call from Chloe and _the Mayor?!_ And a few texts as well. Then some messages from Nino, Alya, Nathalie and _his father?!_ And also a bunch of unknown numbers.

 _What the hell?_

Adrien got his answer as soon as he reached his father's study. It was staring at him from the front page of the newspaper Gabriel was reading.

" **A MODEL EXAMPLE TO OUR YOUTH"**

 _FAMOUS TEEN MODEL CAUGHT IN THE ACT!_

 _Is "Gabriel" brand in urgent need for female mannequins?_

Beneath the screaming headlines there was a grainy photo of Adrien clearly sporting women's clothes and jewelry, pressing a blonde wig to his chest. Though the picture was not of a great quality, the blue eyeshadow and mascara smeared on half of his face were also quite distinctive. To complete the absurdity of the whole scene the paper actually choose to print the photo of him in mid leap, his legs stretched into a split.

'Want to see the others?' His father asked cutting straight to the subject, pointing at an impressive pile of press titles on his desk.

'Not really…' Adrien said weakly.

'Good decision.' His father commented folding the newspaper down. 'They aren't this subtle.'

Adrien's eyes widened. There were worse headlines than that?!

 _Oh, crap._

Then in struck the boy, that his father was strangely calm. And for once it didn't feel like the calm before the storm.

'What happened?' Gabriel asked gently. No trace of sneer or reproof. No 'Care to explain, young man?', 'No son of mine…' or 'I'm so disappointed in you'.

 _How strange._

It caught Adrien totally off guard. He never was a particularly good liar and doubted he would be able to start now. He decided to go with the truth, or at least a version of it tailored to his father's needs.

'It was supposed to be a prank. I wanted to play a trick on a friend,' he confessed looking his father straight in the eyes to show that he was honest. The boy thought that he couldn't feel more embarrassed about the whole ordeal, alas, life had other ideas.

'Was that friend by any chance Marinette Dupain-Cheng?' His father asked after consulting his notebook.

 _Whaaa…?_

'H-how… how did you know?

'Her parents called me first thing in the morning, asking for a meeting with me.' His father explained in a still calm voice, no trace of rage or irritation whatsoever. 'Apparently you suddenly ran out of Marinette's room last evening, you were wearing a strange attire and they got the impression you were visibly and audibly distressed.' Gabriel stared at his notes for a moment and then looked back at his son. 'Marinette's parents were worried something had happened to you. But they also weren't happy you were in their daughther's room at night without their knowledge or permission. Without mine too, I might add.' He looked at his son above the rim of his glasses.

'Now I can understand the rest of the fallout.' Adrien's father he sighed. 'The tabloids however are having a field day. It's like second Christmas for them.'

Still no scolding, no complaints about Adrien.

'Um, I'm sorry?' The boy offered. 'Can I do something to fix it?'

'Absolutely not. There's no way I'm letting you even talk to those hyenas. Our PR department can take care of that.' Gabriel shrugged. 'Of course, you'll have to hide for a couple of days, until this mess is cleaned. Which is rather convenient, I might add. And I'm sure it won't come as a surprise to you, that you're grounded – no school, no photoshoots, no extra activities, no going out until the PR team says the coast is clear. I'm sure this is understood.' He simply informed the boy.

Once again Adrien felt uneasy at the lack of anger or reprimand. His father just returned to his notebook, apparently forgetting his son's presence.

 _Who are you and what you did with my father?_

Finally his curiosity got the better of him. 'Father… Why aren't you mad?' he asked carefully.

'Excuse me?'

'Why aren't you mad at me?' Adrien repeated a little louder.

Gabriel took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. 'Haven't you heard, what I've just said? There _will be_ consequences,' he finally said.

'I know, I'm grounded.' The boy said irritably. 'But you've said it yourself, that it's mostly to keep me out of the newspeople's way. And yet you're not angry _at all_.' He leaned over the desk unconsciously raising his voice through his rant. 'I was outside of the house without your permission. I was in a girl's room without her parents' permission. I ran unattended in women's clothing through Paris at night. I got photographed by paparazzi and ended on numerous front pages of today's newspapers. On top of that I dragged your brand into it. And you aren't freaking out. You're not even slightly mad. Why?!'

His father put his glasses back on and pursed his lips. Then he rolled his eyes and took something from his desk. He passed it to his son.

'Maybe this will help you understand. Look under the bookmark.' He said instead of explaining anything. 'I wouldn't even know where to begin, and they say that a picture is worth a thousand words.' The man snickered turning his gaze to the pile of newspapers.

Adrien wordlessly took the thing which turned out to be an old photo album he had never seen before. There was a bookmark in the middle of it. The boy was about to open it, when his father put a hand on the book.

'Not here. Do it when you're alone in your room.' He asked. 'And I cannot stress how important it is not to show this album to anyone else? This is private.' He ended, a strange expression, a shadow of fond smile on his face.

The boy nodded and left.

As soon as the door to his room closed behind him, Adrien started browsing through the album. It turned out to contain a collection of photos of his parents during their university years. The pictures were scattered tastefully on the pages – one, two, sometimes three per page. Apart from them there were ticket stubs, sometimes an odd dried flower, his father's sketches and designs, press clippings – those made it look more like a scrapbook than a photo album. But most importantly, there were descriptions everywhere – each item was accompanied by a short note in his mother's neat handwriting.

Adrien quickly turned the pages until he found the bookmark. He stared at the page. Then he stared some more trying to convince himself that his eyes were still functioning. Plagg flew to him and plopped himself on the boy's shoulder, curious what caused his Chosen's cognitive paralysis.

Finally it was Plagg's mad cackling that brought Adrien back from wherever he'd been. He covered his mouth with his hand to stifle the laughter that was threatening to break out of his throat. It didn't help. Soon he was shaking uncontrollably alongside Plagg, who was wiping tears coming out of his eyes. They both collapsed on the bed where they laughed some more.

A few doors down the corridor Gabriel Agreste raised his head when the roars of laughter reached him, slightly muffled due to the distance between his study and his son's bedroom. The man smiled fondly at the particular memory captured in a picture in the old album.

* * *

 _If you want to know what was in the picture, you'll have to read the last chapter. I'll be posting it soon enough. In the meantime – tell me what do you think of this one?_


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: Once again thank you for all the favs, follows and reviews! They gave me motivation to complete this._

 _Now let's see what is Adrien's after-prank relationship status, shall we?_

* * *

 **Chapter 3 "Could this day get any weirder?"**

In the end Adrien had plenty of time to think about the events of the previous evening and the morning that followed. He sent a short message to Nino to let him know he was grounded for a few days, until his father's clerks would assess the damage. He asked his friend to pass this news to everyone in class, because it turned out that all of his classmates (bar Chloe) had sent him texts asking if he was all right and if they could help him somehow. Adrien didn't feel like replying to them all and risking to be dragged into questioning, even through texts only.

He still didn't have the courage to contact Marinette. Her messages where vague, simply inquiring if he was all right and if he got home safe. Adrien found a little consolation in the fact that those texts were an evidence of her worrying about him, not being mad at him. But despite that he still had no clue what to do now. Above all, he wanted to talk to her in person, not over the phone or via text. He wanted to look into her bluebell eyes and see for himself how she felt about him being Chat, and if she still wanted to be his girlfriend after that moronic prank.

The evening came, while the boy was still lying on his couch and tossing his phone mindlessly. Plagg had long ago curled up in the crook of his elbow and dozed off. They were both alarmed by the sound of knocking. _Not_ on the door.

Although it was dark, there was no mistaking to who was the person standing outside his window. In no time Adrien was opening it and letting her inside.

After a moment of awkward silence Ladybug finally gathered her voice.

'I… I just wanted to check if you're okay.' She said sheepishly. 'You haven't replied to any of my texts. Nino told us you were grounded, but I just… I wanted to check for myself.'

Adrien nodded dumbly, unable to say anything, unable to think of anything.

'Well, you're clearly all right, so… Imma… I'm gonna go…' The red clad heroine waved her hand in the direction of the opened window. 'It's late. I don't want to bother you.' Her voice was slightly shaking, her eyes glimmered with a promise of tears. This sight was what finally got Adrien's brain to reboot.

Wordlessly he reached out and pulled her into a hug. Ladybug let out a very Marinetty squeak but soon melted into his embrace, resting her head on his shoulder and nuzzling her nose into his neck. Adrien pressed his cheek to the crown of her head, closed his eyes and basked in the familiar and above all most beautiful scent in the world. Chocolate chip cookies, vanilla, strawberry. Marinette. After a while the boy withdrew a bit, just enough to let their foreheads touch.

'I'm so, so, so sorry, Marinette.' He whispered, his eyes still closed.

'For what, Kitty?' She gently stroke his golden hair. He would have _purred_ from delight if he wasn't so ashamed of himself.

'That prank was really stupid. I'm so, so sorry.'

'Well…' the girl murmured. He could feel her every breath on his lips. 'To be honest… I liked it.' She admitted with a small smile.

'What?!' Adrien's eyes shot open. He pulled away to look at her in astonishment. She was blushing so delectably that his heart skipped a beat.

'It was a great prank, Chat,' she said rubbing his ears, which was driving him crazy with pleasure even when he wasn't transformed. Seriously, how much more torture could he bear right now. Ladybug continued unaware of what she did to him. 'And if I wasn't a ball of nerves at the time because of what _I_ was about to confess, I would have appreciate it. You know I would.' She kissed the tip of his nose lightly.

'It was just bad timing, Kitty, is all.' She whispered. And just when he thought he couldn't be more surprised, the girl added, 'Anyway, I'm sorry too.'

 _Could this day get any weirder?_

'For what, my Lady?' Adrien croaked, utterly shocked.

'If I didn't scare you, you wouldn't have ended on the front page of every tabloid and newspaper in Paris. You wouldn't have been grounded. I'm really sorry, Adrien.' She pulled him closer and once again rested her forehead on his.

He smiled and kissed her, his whole body tingling with excitement. For the first time he got to hug her, to kiss her as Adrien, not as Chat. For the first time he could touch her with his bare fingertips, run his fingers through her soft and silky hair, finally knowing what it felt like. And it felt purely amazing and beyond.

Then he thought about the photo in the old album and with a mysterious smirk he said, 'Totally worth it.'

The scrapbook lied abandoned on the coffee table, still opened on the bookmark. Adrien hadn't meant to show it to Ladybug, it sort of happened without any intention on his part. The girl just looked curiously at the album and when he followed her gaze it was already too late, she found the photograph and was staring at it with her eyes opened wide.

Two people stood at the front door to a private female-only dormitory, as it was stated by the large sign next to the entrance (completed with additional sheet of paper clarifying "NO BOYS ALLOWED"). Marinette immediately recognized the person on the left – long golden hair, green eyes, Adrien's smile. It was definitely his mother, a little bit older than in the picture that served as the boy's computer background. As to the person on the right, she had to take a really close look but when Marinette finally recognized who she was seeing Adrien barely managed to cover her mouth with a pillow before she started tearing up from laughter.

Because on the right there was a much younger, and much more cheerful Gabriel Agreste, with a cocky grin across his face that strongly reminded Marinette of a certain feline hero. The man was wearing a hideous flowery _women's_ dress and red ballerinas. There was a chestnut wig of shoulder length hair on his head and he was most definitely wearing make-up and even had his nails done, as evidenced by the hand proudly displayed on his hip. The note next to the picture written in a beautiful handwriting said

" _DORTOIR POUR LES FILLES de MADAME GAGNON, Paris, May 19_ _th_ _1990"_

 _The first time Gabriel managed to by-pass "no boys allowed" rule_

 _He got caught by the third time :)_

Under the note there was a piece of officially looking document that said Adrien's father clearly got a reprimand for indecent behavior.

* * *

When Adrien was finally allowed to go to school it took all of his will power not to run straight to his girlfriend to kiss her. He found Marinette in the locker room surrounded by girls. The boy gave them a little wave. For a second his eyes locked with hers and she sent him a reassuring smile. Everything was going according to their plan. When she visited him for the second time during his house arrest they had decided to take things slow in public before they reveal their relationship. So no signs of affection at school for now, but they had plenty of time in the evenings to make up for that inconvenience.

The boy went to his locker, totally unaware of a certain pair of blue eyes watching carefully his every move. Nino just wandered into the room so instead of looking what he was doing Adrien turned to greet him. He jumped when the door to his locker burst out and there was a silent susurration of a hairslide.

The blond looked around. He was buried up to his knees in wigs of all colors and hair styles. Nino gaped at them in surprise, his stupefaction rivaling Adrien's own.

'Dude?' Was all his friend was able to stutter out, but Adrien was already grinning from ear to ear, his eyes sparkling in comprehension.

Marinette and Alya came to them, the redhead smiling wickedly. 'Hey Agreste, looks like your little stunt won't be so easily forgotten after all,' she snickered. Marinette stood beside her with an innocent smirk. Too innocent to his liking.

'I didn't count on that,' Adrien gave them a wink. He dipped his hand in the pile of wigs and quickly fished out a Ladybug one. 'But I guess I'm going to take it like a man.' Flashing them a wink the boy slammed the wig onto his head. He looked Marinette straight in the eyes. There was that very familiar gleam of mischief in them, which he returned with one of his own.

Oh, this prank challenge was sooooo on!

* * *

Thanks to the PR team and some quick thinking the following fall _Gabriel_ brand released a new 'Magical Girl' line targeted at teenagers. And guess who was modeling this collection?

* * *

 _Author's Note: Whoopsie… Waiter? What's that Ladrien doing in my MariChat? :3_

 _That's all, guys! I'm still not entirely convinced it was a good idea to share those two bonus chapters, it's for you to judge. My personal opinion is that I definitely have a problem with one-shots, namely how to leave them in [one] peace ;)_

 _Anyway, check out my other stories, I've been told they are rather good ;) And visit me on tumblr from time to time!_

 _Btw I've drawn some doodles for this fic. I deliberately won't use the term 'fan art' because art is definitely not the right word here ;) Still, if you're curious you can check them out either on tumblr (perditaatottachocolate-blog. tumblr. com tag 'prank' should do the trick) or on AO3 – where I've actually included them in the story (while it's not possible on FF)._


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